Try & Get Some Damn Sleep

As a first time mom, you’re constantly told ‘make sure you sleep before the baby comes!’ and ‘sleep as much as you can because once baby is here you won’t be sleeping at all!’. It’s common sense to get sleep before baby comes, right? If it were only that simple. Within days or weeks of conception, you’ll notice how frequently you have to pee. How is it possible that something that can hardly be seen under a microscope can cause you have to pee 10+ times a night? It’s mind blowing but true and the peeing only gets more frequent at the end when baby is using your bladder as a trampoline. Baby also seems most active at night because you’re not moving around (trying to relax, ha!) and you’re noticing the movements more which makes it so fun to try and fall asleep when you have a tiny human using your organs as a punching bag or practicing his or her kicks into your ribs. As baby gets bigger, you may experience awful back pain related to pressure baby puts on the sciatic nerve. It makes laying flat or in any position really painful. It’s so fun trying to get comfortable every time you get in and out of bed from the 10+ times a night you have to pee. Also, beware of charley horses. You’ll wake up thinking it’s Shark Week and Jaws is gnawing on your calves. There’s not much you can do to stop them once they come, you just have to wait out the 30-45 seconds of excruciating pain. And then there are the dreams. Pregnancy brings on the craziest dreams. You’ll have a blast trying to think of reasons why in the hell you’re dreaming about having an affair with Jimmy Fallon. So you’ll stare at the ceiling dissecting each bizarre dream and feeling super guilty while your husband sleeps like a baby next to you which makes you want to smother him with a pillow, but you can’t because you have to pee. Again. So my advice for sleep is this: invest in adult diapers so you can just pee when you have to go, find a chiropractor that is trained to adjust pregnant women and don’t kill your husband for actually getting a full night’s sleep. He’s only half to blame for the position you’re in.

Here are some tips to sleep better while pregnant:

Buy a pregnancy or body pillow to put between your legs to help with back pain.

Elevate your head to relieve acid reflux.

Sleeping on the left side is best for baby, blood flow and for circulation.

Limit your fluid intake in the evening.

Keep your body moving during the day to stay healthy and burn off energy.

To help with charley horses, message your calves when the cramp starts. Be sure to strerch and stay hydrated during the day. Also, some say that pulling your foot fat or standing on it will make it dissipate a little faster.